I had an awesome Saturday. Why? Because I took my car to the shop for service and was there for 3 hours. It was awesome….when I called the man to tell him they said it would be at least 2 hours, I was positively giddy! 3 hours of coffee, reading, toasted egg sandwich and the toilet (clean private bathroom) and no kids!!! worth the 60$ bill!!!

I got so into my book that I actually missed them calling my name. It reminded me how much I have missed reading lately. I still read a bit, but it is hard. Charlotte is a monkey and I cannot read at all when I am alone with her, and she barely ever naps. I have gotten into TV more than I used to be out of necessity (nursing), and she does not let me read while I breast-feed, which I did with the girl all the time. Since I am not in my car for hours like I was when working, I have not really been reading audio books either. I mostly read in the…umm…powder room.  Mostly fluff, since it is easy to get back into.

I have read a few really good books in the past year though, and wanted to share some.

Firstly, the book I am reading right now is The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson.  This is a Swedish novel that took the work by storm, both because it is so good, and because the manuscript made it to print after Larron’s death. TGWTDT is the first in a trilogy  about . I am about half-way through the book, but loving the murder mystery and the characters so far.  I don’t feel like explaining it, so here is the Wikipedia summery: A middle-aged journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, publishes the magazine Millennium in Stockholm. He is hired one day by Henrik Vanger, the aged former CEO of a group of companies owned by a wealthy dynasty, in order to chronicle the family history. His real mission, however, is to solve a cold case – the disappearance, some forty years previously, of Vanger’s great-niece when she was sixteen. Blomkvist encounters “the old Miss Marple closed-room scenario” with all the wealthy suspects marooned on the family estate on an island; a village we grow familiar with, full of hostile locals peering out from behind their curtains”.^[1] The real main character of the story is Lisbeth Salander, an asocial punk who has been victimized by authorities throughout her whole life. By accident she meets Blomkvist and the unlikely couple become another classic detective pair where the hunters become the hunted.

Another great read was Any Man: A Fictionalized Account of Something That Really Happened by Louise Corum. This book is the author’s fictionalized account of her aunt’s disappearance decades before, and the father’s search for his missing daughter. A  quick and excellent book.

i have been an avid watcher of the young and the restless for years and years…my mother watched it when i was a babe, and i have very early memories of watching it with her.

recently i discovered that, in true soap opera fashion, a long dead character was returning to life.  not only that but, in an unusual move, the actor that played the character 20 years ago would be doing so again.

the character? phillip chancellor the 3rd

the actor? thom bierdz

after i discovered this tidbit, i wondered what had happened to thom in the last 2 decades, and checked google. i ended up on his website, and made a few discoveries;

1) he is gay

2) he is an artist…a very very talented artist

3) just weeks after he left y&r in 1989, his mother was brutally murdered, by his brother

4) in 2000, his other brother committed suicide

5) he wrote a book about these events; Forgiving Troy – A True Story of Murder, Mental Illness and Recovery

6) he is still gorgeous

i felt a bit of a connection to thom, and decided to e-mail him. unlike john mayer…the only other celebrity i have e-mailed (someone pleeeease find me robert downey jr.’s e-mail addy) thom replied. he was very kind and gracious, and appreciated my interest (or pretended to politely, anyways).

so, i ordered the book.  and it arrived. signed by thom (who also took it to the post office and signed the shipping slip himself, which i found pretty cool for some reason. i considered keeping the slip as a souvenir…but ended up recycling it)

i devoured it in two days

wow! just wow. obviously, it was quite a story. it feels wrong to enjoy someones tragedy, so i wont say i enjoyed the book…but i will say i was riveted. not only by the story, but by Thom’s excellent writing. he gives just the right amount of detail and description, builds interest,  and…most of all…is brutally honest. his talent, strength, insight, and courage is truly inspiring.

i have read on some soap opera sites that some y&r fans feel thom is not such a great actor. while i personally disagree and enjoy his acting…after looking at his artwork and reading his book, i would say acting is the least of his talents.

i do, however, fear watching him on y&r (he is back now) will never be the same for me…

this posting was brought to you by my left hand and a nursing baby on my lap…

So I finally saw the movie, courtesy of the local Chinese DVD store. Not a great copy…but good enough to watch.

The movie was…eh. Compared to the book, it sucked.  So much was glossed over, most of the characters were nothing like I imagined them (Alice was the only exception…she was perfect!), and…well…like most movie version of good books, the movie just paled in comparison to the book so much it was annoying.

Also, Bella was paler than Edward in most of the movie? How does that make sense? She seriously looked more like a Vampire than he did…he looked more like a punk rocker with way to dark lipstick!!!

1. I am finally reading the last of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn. I have read over 300 pages today, mostly while hiding in the bathroom pretending I have some serious stomach issues.

2. I also fit in a trip with the girl to see High School Musical 3. It was cheesy and stupid and had way too much spontaneous bursting into song…but my stupid pregnancy hormones had me crying through half of it anyways.

3. The baby is continuing to drop, and my heartburn is finally getting better.

4. However the baby dropping also means my pants are falling down all the time. It is so annoying. I feel like…umm…some TV character I sorta remember who was always hitching his pants up. Who was that?

5. I got a new body wash, Queen Isabella Cinnamon Orange Shower Gel by Kings and Queens. I love it so much. Sweet spicy sexy smell, and nice thick lather that leaves me skin feeling soft and smelling smooth. Get it at Shoppers Drug Mart.

So, that time of year is coming around again, and in less than a month I’ll be 35!!! Here are some gifts I have in mind, though if I get any of them, I’ll likely be getting them for myself (I have a 40% off letter for Coach!)!

I love putting together wish lists (online shopping without the cost), but am actually not a fan of being asked what I want for gifts…it makes me all prickly and uncomfortable. To me, a gift is supposed to be about what the giver chooses to give, not what the receiver asks to receive. I LOVE getting surprise gifts…even if I don’t end up loving the gift, the idea of someone thinking about me and what they know of me (or asking for suggestions someone who is close to me but not me, or even persuing my blog to get ideas), and searching stores or websites looking for something they think I’d like makes me giddy. I refuse to tell the man what I want for gifts anymore, I’d really rather get nothing (or a nice dinner out!!) than just turn my gift into him paying for something I pick out. I can pay for things for myself, to me it is the thought of someone going to the effort to pick out something that makes them think of me that makes a gift special.

Anyways, I just wanted to share some things I have my eye on…I’ll definately be getting the books soon, as they are not at my library and I am pretty sure I’ll need some late-night reading material in a few months! Any other book suggestions woould be appreciated!

By Twilight! I have been hearing about this YA series about Vampires that adults love for a longtime, and had no interest whatsoever. Then, a few weeks ago I was perusing the library audiobooks to find something to “read” on a day that would involve at least 4 hours of driving, and saw that the first 2 books in the series were there. I grabbed them, since there was nothing else that interested me in the upper shelves (it is barely possible for me to get the lower shelves anymore, so my choices were limited to about 1/2 of the audiobooks there) and I figured it is worth a try, and might make for a fun drive.

Well, I loved Twilight. It is no literary masterpiece, but it is a really fun book. It has suspense, romance, the supernatural, tension…and really likable characters. I am now about halfway through New Moonand though I am not liking it quite as much…it is still a good read and I am excited to get to Eclipse next!

Other series I have enjoyed recently: The Outlander Books by Diana Gabaldon, and the  Spoils of TimeTrilogy by Penny Vincenzi.

Where is this supposed return of energy they (*they* being the lying bitches well meaning but misinformed ladies who wrote What to Expect When You’re Expecting) tell me happens in the second trimester? I am a week into the second trimester and almost fell asleep into my gnocchi tonight.

Talking about WTEWYE, I loathe WTEWYE, and only still read it because it is living under my bed where I threw it 6 years ago. Sometimes I am too tired to leave my bed and look for better reading material.

Gems of wisdom from WTEWYE:

1. The best-odds diet. The authors tell you that, since you wouldn’t give your baby a doughnut, you shouldn’t eat one yourself. Does that mean I should consider a diet of breast milk for the duration of my pregnancy, since that is all I plan to feed my baby?  No, they don’t recommend that. They do recommend nothing but fruits and veggies, meat and whole grains.  We pregnant women should not allow white bread, white rice, white pasta, sweets or fried food of any kind into our homes in case we may be tempted to allow it to pass our lips and poisen our fetuses. We can cheat on a minor treat like frozen yogurt once a week or so, and a real treat like the ever evil doughnut once a month…but ONLY if we wont over-indulge as a result of allowing ourselves to cheat. If we do not follow these rules, our babies will be hideously malformed and it will be our fault for succumbing to the temptation of the Oreo cookie (okay, they don’t say that…but they imply it).

2. We should relax in the evenings, keep our feet up and take it easy. But exercise. Because we have all mastered the trick of exercising while keeping our feet up and relaxing during our only free time.

3. One’s husband’s closet is the best source for maternity clothes. Sure, because all men are bigger than their hugely pregnant wives, right? My man is 6″1 and 165lb soaking wet…I can barely wear his clothes (except his baggy sweats, but yuck, who’d want to?) when I am not pregnant!

My real vitriol for the WTE series comes from the What to Expect for Toddler Years book though. The first question is about Breastfeeding after 1. The author’s response, essentially, is *Some mothers BF their toddlers and if you want to fine, but here are 10 reasons it is not a great idea.*  As a proud nurser of the girl for over 2 years, (as is recommended by all major pediatric medical associations), I stopped reading right there and made a nice warm bonfire with the toddler book.

WTEWYE remains under my bed though, to remind me to avoid the evilness of the Reese Peanut Butter cup.

Change of Heart
Jodi Picoult’s newest novel was much more enjoyable and reminiscent of her earlier novels than many of her newer ones. The storyline; a man on death row fights for the right to donate his heart to the sister of his murder victim, is compelling. The characters are, for the most part, realistic and likable. The supernatural edge makes it more interesting. The back-stories (which Picoult has recently allowed to take over many of her  books) are interesting, and kept minimal enough to help the reader understand the characters without taking over the whole novel. All in all, and enjoyable and emotional read I would recommend be added your library list.

The Thin Pink Line
I thought this looked fun and grabbed it off the new releases at the library. Eh. The story; a 29 year old editor  thinks she is pregnant and then decided to keep up the act when she discover she isn’t since she likes the attention, is somewhat original. In spite of the unique story line, it reads like any other chick-lit: shallow self-centered main character, bitchy co-workers, annoying family, gay best friend, and love interest who is perfect. Gah. I read it and enjoyed it enough for what it was, but I  wouldn’t go out of my way for it if I were you.

What happens when a group of Greek Gods end up in modern day London trying to keep the world running?? A very funny and unputdownable book that I strongly recommend!

 

…at blogging right now. Sorry to be so inattentive to you all. I have been super busy at work, and super distracted by personal stuff at home.

Since Mother’s Day is tomorrow, I thought I’d share a few mother’s day gifts I would not turn down: